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WINGS Tour Leaders – Ian (Sav) Saville

Ian (Sav) Saville

Image of Ian (Sav) Saville

Sav was born and brought up in London. He started birding in the early ‘70’s and was fairly active in the British twitching/birding scene from then through to the late ’80s - building a British list of just on 400 (which was quite a lot in those days!). British birders will probably appreciate the following: Sav was an eye-witness to the infamous Reading Sewage Farm Black-winged Pratincole incident, he has seen TWO Tennessee Warblers in Britain, and he won many instant friends by finding an obliging Eye-browed Thrush on St. Mary’s in 1988.

Sav moved to New Zealand in 1989 and stayed for nearly 3 years, before having to return to UK in 1991. In late 1993 he went to Saudi Arabia for 2 ½ years (during which time he was a regular contributor to “Birding World”), and then arrived back in New Zealand in 1996.

In all this time Sav has travelled extensively, and been birding in each of the continents except South America. His 20+ years experience with British and European birds, and that gained during 8 trips to North America (both USA and Canada) will be of great use to visiting birders from those areas, since he is readily able to make comparisons with New Zealand birds.

His birding experience in New Zealand is also extensive, having travelled throughout the country on birding trips, as well as concentrating a lot of time on his ‘local patch’ - the Manawatu Estuary, where he has found many rarities among the common visitors. Sav has been the Ornithological Society of New Zealand (OSNZ) Regional Recorder (c.f. County Recorder in UK) since 1996, and the OSNZ Regional Representative for the Manawatu Region since 2000, both to the present day.

Updated: August 2010